The Society of Broadcast Engineers has asked the Federal Communications Commission to protect existing TV BAS (Broadcast Auxiliary Service) RO (receive only) sites from harmful interference that could arise if commission rules are changed regarding Advanced Wireless Service (AWS) in the 2GHz band.

Specifically, the society objected to provisions of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking mandating that AWS base stations suppress out of band emissions (OOBE) by only 43dB. According to the filing, the suppression requirement for such OOBE should be increased to 67dB.

The SBE filing said that AWS base stations at 2020MHz to 2025MHz are “most definitely an interference threat” to 2205MHz to 2110MHz ENG receive sites.

The society filing asked the commission to prohibit AWS base stations in the 2020MHz to 2025MHz band from being within 4.66mi of an analog ENG RO site or within .155mi of a digital ENG RO site.

The society also called on the commission to modify its Universal Licensing System (ULS) to allow TV pickup licensees to upload information to show where their ENG-RO sites are as well as the heights of their receiving antennas, which can be “substantial.”

The SBE filing called for this information to be searchable by interested parties, and added “the ULS data fields containing this information must be capable of being found by a radius search around a given set of geographic coordinates.”

“Until this is done, ULS will stand for the Un-helpful Licensing System as far as Part 74 Pickup BAS licensees are concerned,” the SBE filing said.